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Two summers ago I was fortunate to work with Jon Daniel when his Afro Supa Hero exhibition came to the International Slavery Museum. Jon was an inspiring man who was passionate about celebrating heroes and heroines of the African diaspora. The role models and heroes featured in his exhibition ranged from cultural icons from his childhood to historical figures, including many who you might encounter in the galleries of the museum. He used his skills as a designer and graphic artist to share their stories with a wider audience. Read more…

The first half-term back at school always feels like the longest. The summer sun and heatwave seem a distant memory as the nights draw in, jumpers and blankets are found at the back of cupboards and the heating is reluctantly switched on.

Lois K Alexander Lane. Credit: Courtesy of Susan McNeill and the Estate of Robert H. McNeill

We are honoured to have a guest blog from Joyce Bailey, daughter of the late Lois K Alexander Lane who is celebrated on our Black Achievers Wall at the Museum.

As a young girl, Lois K Alexander would look in boutique store windows and sketch the clothes she liked. She was clearly gifted, but not allowed to go in the stores to buy anything because of her race. She later set out to dispel the myth ‘that Blacks were new found talent in the fashion industry’ and studied for a Master’s Degree from New York University. From there, her career in fashion was unstoppable. Read more…

This Black History Month we celebrate diverse voices from Liverpool’s Black community. This second blog in the series celebrates the life of Angus Wood and his contribution to the war effort during the Second World War.

“Because I am from Jamaica, an engineer didn’t think I was capable of sharpening a drill, although after that you know we got on smashing. I was treated quite well, especially when they suddenly realised that everything in Kingston was the same as in England”

Angus was born in Kingston, Jamaica and came to Liverpool when he responded to the call for engineers to come and work in munitions factories here in Britain. He left Kingston on 13 January 1940 with a large group of other skilled men.

After a long journey they docked in Scotland and travelled by train to Liverpool. Initially they lived at the YMCA in Birkenhead.

Angus was employed at ROF Fazakerley, a newly opened rifle manufacturing factory. Initially he was treated a little differently but once he proved that he knew his job he was treated the same as the other workers. His job, a protected occupation, was to set up machines that the women workers used to cut and grind components for rifles.

Angus also joined the factory’s own Home Guard, performing night fire watches and guard duty before and after a full days work.

The women workers in the factory helped them to find lodgings with local families. Angus lived for two years with the Roberts family, in Crescent Road, Fazakerley, before meeting his wife at the factory and setting up their own home.

Angus and his friends often went to the Grafton Ballroom in their free time. Here they experienced some racism from American GIs. Angus tells us more –

“The Americans didn’t want any coloured chaps in there, and we were British so they couldn’t stop us, and when they objected there was a fight. I always keep clear of any fights. I was never personally involved in any of them”.

After the war the men were offered the opportunity to return to Jamaica, or stay in Britain. Angus, who was by then married with young children, chose to stay. He lived and worked in Liverpool, staying on at the factory until it closed in 1962.

SeafarerHelp run a free, confidential, multilingual helpline for seafarers and their families, offering support with whatever issues they may be facing. You can find a link to their website at the bottom of this page.

Earlier this year I wrote about a romantic story from the journals of young Captain William Porter, from the 1860s. He was dearly missing his wife, Bess, when he discovered, weeks out to sea, that she’d hidden a letter to him among his belongings.

This sweet story about William and Bess was not however what had drawn me to the journals in the first place. It was a rather less happy strand to his writing that had caught my eye on the summary transcript. I had been researching in the Archives for historic references to struggles with mental health, or simply the loneliness and isolation we know are often a part of life at sea. In the summary for William’s journals there were certainly mentions of loneliness, but also repeated references to worry about a variety of things and a note of a New Year’s Eve entry that particularly spoke about his state of mind. Read more…

Today marks John Lennon and his son Sean Taro Ono Lennon’s joint birthday. John would have been 78 today and Sean is celebrating turning 43.

Sean was born on 9 October 1975, on John’s 35th birthday. Around that time John and Yoko decided that raising Sean, and having a more traditional family life, was the most important thing for them so John decided to cut back on work and dedicate himself to Sean’s early years. During this time John and Sean developed a very close bond. Read more…

In addition to celebrating historic civil rights activists, International Slavery Museum’s exciting new exhibition Journey to Justice also aims to raise awareness of the ways that the fight for social justice can be continued and led by people like us. To showcase the fantastic work of activists working within DIY self-publishing networks, we invited Over Here Zine Fest to curate a selection of zines by BAME artists and writers. Here, Heena Patel discusses their involvement in organising Over Here Zine Fest and selecting the zines for the exhibition: Read more…

With the discovery of a mysterious giant sandal last night, which is now suspended over the Canning Dock nearby, anticipation is building for the Giant Spectacular event in Liverpool this weekend. This will be the third and final time that the Royal de Luxe will take over the city to enchant and delight us with their epic tales. However did you know that their first visit to Liverpool back in 2012 was inspired by a simple letter from our Maritime Archives? Read more…

This Black History Month we celebrate diverse voices from Liverpool’s Black community.

The first is Addae, a member of Liverpool Tritons Inclusive Rugby Club. The Tritons, founded in 2016, is the first gay inclusive rugby team on Merseyside. They encourage new members from all backgrounds, ages, fitness levels, and rugby experience.

Liverpool Tritons Inclusive Rugby Club t-shirt worn at Liverpool Pride, 30 July 2016; the day the club was officially launched. You can see this t-shirt on display in Tales from the city exhibition

Addae, tells us more about what the Club means to him:

“When I recently relocated to Liverpool from Trinidad & Tobago, via London, I realized that I wasn’t particularly fond of the area. Liverpool was cold, damp, and windy, and understanding the Scouse dialect seemed more of a task than a pleasure. I didn’t feel like I belonged here.

Frequently bored and uninspired, the only solace that I found was from running and reading, until I got the opportunity to leave. One day while I was leaving the Liverpool Central Library (which I consider a literary oasis), and although I had been there innumerable times, on that day my eyes were drawn to a flyer that had the holy words, ‘Liverpool Tritons: Inclusive Rugby’. Read more…

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was named in memory of Lord Lever’s wife Elizabeth and was built to house an art collection to share with Lever’s soap factory workers. It’s always been about community and inclusion and today is no different. It’s not uncommon for us to hear parents say they don’t think the gallery is for them as they fear they’ll be too noisy or it’ll go over the kids’ heads. We’d like to shout from the top of our beautiful glass domes that we love noise, creativity and little ones and we’d love you to come and visit! Read more…

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We try to ensure that the information provided on our blog is accurate and that
appropriate permissions to use images have been sought. The opinions in each
blog are very much those of the individuals writing.